Red Rock Canyon

Red Rock Canyon Ancestral Skunk

One of the most unusual discoveries from the Dove Spring Formastion is the earliest and most complete skunk specimen ever found in the Americas. This almost perfectly preserved skull and lower jaws were collected by the MacConnell family in 1974 and is about 9 million years old. The delicate skull bones are so fragile that it is a surprise this fossil is so well preserved. Our study of this skunk has determined that it is a new species of an ancestral skunk, Martinogale faulli (Faull’s skunk), that gave rise to the rest of North American skunks. The new species was named in a 2005 paper after former Red Rock Canyon State Park ranger Mark Faull. We now know that skunks came from Asia by way of an ancient land bridge (Beringia) between Siberia and Alaska. The Red Rock Canyon fossil skunk records the very first appearance of this prehistorical migration from the Old World.